ALISHA FLAATEN
As a 5-foot-6 guard at Moreau Catholic High School, Alisha Flaaten was first-team all-Hayward Area Athletic League four years (2003-2006), all-Bay Area three years; all-East Bay four years, all-State two years, all-Northern California Division III two years, HAAL Most Valuable Player (2006), team MVP four years, Alameda Newspaper Group Prep of the Week three times and Cal Hi Player of the Week once.
With Flaaten leading the way, Moreau won three HAAL girls basketball championships (2004-2006), one North Coast Section Division III title (2004) and was NCS runner-up twice (2003, 2005). Alisha is second only to Colleen Galloway on the Mariners’ all-time scoring list with 1863 points.
Before concentrating solely on basketball, Flaaten competed in track her freshman year and was league champion in the long jump.
Flaaten’s college career at Dominican University in San Rafael was equally impressive. She is the Penguins’ all-time leading scorer with 1565 points, as well as the all-time leader in assists (417) and steals (246). She was the league’s freshman of the year in 2007 and all-league her sophomore, junior and senior seasons.
One of the highlights of Alisha’s illustrious career came on February 18, 2010, when she broke Jennifer Rogers Fernandez’s 15-year-old record to become Dominican’s all-time leading scorer. At the next timeout after the record-breaking shot, the game paused while Flaaten was honored with a center-court ceremony that included the university president, athletic director, head coach and Alisha’s parents.
Dominican upgraded from the NAIA to NCAA Division II after Alisha’s junior year, which meant she faced stiffer competition her senior season. Still, she averaged 15.0 points per game that season, which was a slight improvement over the year before.
Flaaten played through pain much of her college career, suffering from a chronic sore knee. She had surgery to remove cartilage after her junior year, which helped some, but she reinjured the knee during a tryout for an international team after college graduation and had to call it quits. “I’ll eventually need a knee replacement,” she said.
Alisha andher fiancé, David Edgerson, presently live in Castro Valley with their two-year-old son.